At midnight on Saturday, phones will buzz, doorbells will ring and, with the ink barely dry on the accounts of this season, the NBA offseason will be under way.

July 1 is the first day teams can begin contacting players, and though they can’t officially sign until July 11, a flurry of deals is sure to emerge. The decisions with the most impact probably won’t happen immediately, but expect a full summer of rumors and speculation. The top story lines:

Dwight Howard redux

Brace yourself, because if last season tired you out, this summer could be a real drag.

Howard gave the Orlando Magic a major victory at the trade deadline when he decided to opt in for next season, seemingly allowing the Magic another year to reconfigure the roster in a way that would inspire him to sign a long-term extension.

Didn’t work out that way.

Howard was called out by coach Stan Van Gundy, who told the media Howard wanted him fired. The team began to sink, Howard needed back surgery and the Magic lost in the first round of the playoffs before firing Van Gundy and general manager Otis Smith.

New general manager Rob Hennigan will figure out how to dig the Magic out of the Howard mess. Word around the league is that the Magic will be deliberate with the situation and expect to rehabilitate Howard’s trade value before making a move.

Despite a raft of rumors, Hennigan did not execute a move on draft night. He did, however, meet with Howard on Friday, the day after the draft, and is now collecting offers from other teams.

Howard, meanwhile, is sticking to his trade request and wants to land with the Nets and Deron Williams.

Deron’s choice

Running alongside the Howard drama is the future of Deron Williams, who has opted out of the final year of his contract and is a free agent.

Howard hopes to join Williams as the Nets make their move to Brooklyn, but the Nets have precious few assets to offer and Williams could be forced to make a decision before there is clarity in Orlando — a source told Sporting News that Williams, who will be training with the Olympic team in Las Vegas, does not want to drag out the process.

Playing with Howard in Brooklyn is Williams’ first choice, too, but the Mavericks are also putting on a hard charge to sign him. Williams is from the Dallas area.

The Nets are also indicating that they won’t wait on the Magic to make a trade, and are in talks for other major free agents and trade targets. According to a report from Yahoo! Sports, one of those targets is the Atlanta Hawks' Joe Johnson, though the Nets could be using other trades to exercise some leverage on the Magic to make a Howard trade.

Steve Nash frenzy

The fact that we’re in a thin free-agent market is not the only reason teams will be clamoring to sign a 38-year-old point guard who has 15 years of NBA wear. Nash remains among the best point guards in the league, averaging 12.5 points and 10.7 assists last season.

The Phoenix Suns will almost certainly let him go, leaving Nash to join just the third organization of his career. There have been rumors about the Lakers, Heat and Knicks getting involved in signing Nash, but none of those teams has the cap space to give him a realistic offer.

The most intriguing scenario: Nash is Canadian, and a national hero north of the border. It seems the one thing the Raptors need to bring together their sometimes oddly matched young talent is a playmaker like Nash.

The Raptors met with Nash on Sunday, and were expected to offer him a multi-year deal in the range of what the Celtics paid Kevin Garnett — three years, $34 million.

Lakers games

With the Clippers continuing to up the stakes in Los Angeles—they brought back former Laker Lamar Odom in a trade on Friday — there is increasing pressure on the Lakers to shake up their roster. Rumors around power forward Pau Gasol, a common feature of last season, are still rattling around the league, with teams like Minnesota and Houston expressing interest. Lakers honcho Jim Buss has said that he believes the team will look much as it did last year, when L.A. was taken to seven games by the Nuggets in the first round, then knocked out in five by the Thunder.

Reinserting themselves into the Howard talks could be a priority for the Lakers, though involving center Andrew Bynum in a deal would be a controversial move. The pressing subject remains the point guard spot, where Ramon Sessions is a free agent. Sessions played well in the regular season (12.7 points, 6.2 assists) but disintegrated in the playoffs (9.7 points, 3.6 assists, 37.7 percent shooting).

Thunder decisions

Last week, James Harden expressed confidence that he would remain in Oklahoma City with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for the long haul, saying, “They'll do a pretty good job of working it out. I'm focused on several other things right now. But when the time is (right), they'll figure it out and it'll be done.”

Easy to say, tough to do. Harden is eligible for an extension and Oklahoma City has already signed Durant, Westbrook and center Kendrick Perkins to long-term deals. Now, general manager Sam Presti figures to face difficult negotiations with agent Rob Pelinka, who also represents Durant.

How much the Thunder pay Harden — if they agree on an extension at all — will go a long way in determining the course of the franchise.

Forward Serge Ibaka is also extension-eligible, and with the luxury tax getting ever-more punitive, the Thunder can’t afford to sign all of their young talent to big long-term deals. This won’t have an impact on Oklahoma City next year, because even if no extensions are signed, Harden and Ibaka are under contract and will become restricted free agents the following summer.

Heat pile-on

Andre Miller, Grant Hill, Chris Kaman, Ray Allen — financially, the Heat don’t have much to offer some of the bigger names on the market this summer, but they can offer the most realistic shot at a championship of any team out there, and if you’re a veteran, that’s pretty strong incentive.

Miami has the mini-mid-level exception available, which is worth $9 million over three years, and the feeling is if the Heat dangle such a contract alongside a picture of them holding up this year’s Larry O’Brien trophy, someone useful is going to sign.